North Montrose

Featured Posts
05/27/15 11:15am

The Finest Flooded Cars in the AMLI 2121 Parking Garage

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Flooding, Hazards, North Montrose
18 Comments

Flooding at AMLI 2121 Apartments, 2121 Allen Pkwy., North Montrose, Houston

Flooding at AMLI 2121 Apartments, 2121 Allen Pkwy., North Montrose, HoustonA resident of the bayou-side North Montrose apartments at 2121 Allen Pkwy. now known as AMLI 2121 (and formerly as the Bel Air; see the pictured monument sign) has cataloged a few of the nicer cars that were likely totaled yesterday as they took on water in the lower level of the garage of the complex. Included: a Lexus IS250, a Nissan 370z, and an Audi A4.

The pop-up lake that appeared on Allen Parkway and the adjacent Buffalo Bayou Park has already subsided considerably, though underpasses are still filled with water. Liquid levels lowered in the garage too, which sits underneath the apartment structure, just east of Montrose Blvd.

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Wet Spaces
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Featured Posts
05/26/15 3:30pm

Touring Buffalo Bayou Park’s New Underwater Features from Overhead

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Flooding, North Montrose
2 Comments

Buffalo Bayou Park, North Montrose, Houston, May 26, 2015

From earlier today: A series of drone’s-eye-views from above and around Allen Pkwy., just west of Downtown, surveying from high and low points above how the new Buffalo Bayou Park functioned in its latest role as a part-time retention basin. The still above, from Rakesh Agrawal’s later flights with a DJI Phantom 2 Quadcopter, shows the Houston Police Officers’ Memorial (at right) in its island guise. A couple more, pointed toward the Downtown skyline:

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Drone Views
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Featured Posts
05/19/15 12:30pm

Near Waugh and Allen Parkway, a Bit of a Stretch for a Parking Garage

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North Montrose, Parking, Renovations
7 Comments

Wortham Tower Parking Garage, American General Center, 2919 Allen Pkwy., North Montrose, Houston

A banner for Manhattan Construction is flying on the side of the Wortham Tower parking garage, just south of the Wortham Tower itself at 2919 Allen Pkwy. The company is adding on a few floors of parking to the massive structure. A Swamplot reader sent in these views, taken from the adjacent parking lot for the Whole Foods Market on Waugh Dr.

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Wortham Tower Parking
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Featured Posts
04/17/15 11:00am

What Johnny Steele Dog Park Looks Like in Lake Mode

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Flooding, North Montrose, Parks
8 Comments

Johnny Steele Dog Park After Heavy Rains, Buffalo Bayou Park, Houston

No Buffalo Bayou Park fun this morning for Swamplot coverdog Kep, on account of the whole Johnny Steele Dog Park at the intersection of Studemont and Allen Pkwy. is flooded after yesterday’s downpours. Which is what a bayou-side park is expected to do during and after weather like yesterday’s.

More pics of the scene:

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When Buffalo Bayou Spreads
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Featured Posts
04/03/15 12:30pm

West Gray Plaza Strip Center About To Go Up Next to Barnaby’s Café

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Montrose, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Retail, Strip Centers
20 Comments

Site of Proposed West Gray Plaza Strip Center, 504 W. Gray St., North Montrose, Houston

Proposed West Gray Plaza Strip Center, 504 W. Gray St., North Montrose, Houston

Here’s the brick-and-splitface-block strip center that the owner of the building housing the Barnaby’s Café on West Gray at the eastern edge of North Montrose plans to construct in the next 6 months. It’ll be right next door to the Barnaby’s parking lot between Stanford and Taft, on a 15,000-sq.-ft. piece of land that long ago held 3 houses. The West Gray Plaza at 504 W. Gray St. would have 6,000 sq. ft. of retail or office space on the ground floor, plus a 1,600-sq.-ft. half story with a deck above.

The site plan shows a row of head-in parking in front of the building, which would be set to the back of the site:

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Featured Posts
02/26/15 2:15pm

Little Flags Are Flying Around the Once and Maybe Future Regent Square

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North Montrose, Proposed Developments
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Survey Flags at Proposed Site of Regent Square, Allen Pkwy. at Dunlavy St., North Montrose, Houston

Remember way back in 2007, when excavators tore down portions of the Allen House Apartments in North Montrose to make way for GID Development’s massive mixed-use project known as Regent Square? Well, it’s okay if you don’t. Anyway, the thing hasn’t happened yet, though the nearby apartment tower that opened last year called the Sovereign (seen in the background of the photo above), which wasn’t included the original plans, is now cited as Regent Square’s first phase. What of phases 2 and above? Swamplot reader Mike Bloom reports there’s evidence of recent action on the now empty lot at the corner of Dunlavy St. and Allen Pkwy., dating from the middle of last month: little pink flags on stakes — the kind typically used for surveys.

Photo: Mike Bloom

Stakes in the Neighborhood
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Featured Posts
02/24/15 11:00am

Take These Preview Drives Down the New, Slower, and More Parkway-Like Allen Parkway, with 175 New Bayou-Side Parking Spaces

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North Montrose, Parks, Proposed Developments, Streetscapes
38 Comments

A couple of simulated fly-overs of a portion of a revamped Allen Pkwy., put together by consulting engineering firm Walter P Moore, show how the signature River Oaks-to-Downtown sorta-highway will look after a park-centered makeover is completed next summer. The projected $10 million redo partially answers the question popping up in many people’s minds after seeing all the new trails and structures and amenities and dogs going in along the bayou it lines: How are car-bound Houstonians supposed to get to the new Buffalo Bayou Park?

Part of the answer, of course, is by using 175 new angled parking spaces, most of them lining a new separate parking access lane lining the north side of Allen Pkwy. between Rochow St. and Eleanor Tinsley Park. As the video above (showing the journey eastbound from Montrose Blvd. to Park Vista Dr.) indicates, if you’re headed into Downtown, you’ll need to turn around and head in the opposite direction somewhere to park in one of them. Here’s a video view of the journey westward from Park Vista (across from Eleanor Tinsley Park) back to Montrose Blvd., along which the spots are angled for easy entry:

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More Trees Too
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Apartments
10/29/14 4:30pm

The 8-Story Apartment Building Kicking El Tiempo 1308 Cantina Off Montrose Blvd. Won’t Touch U-Plumb-It or Gibbs Boats

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Demolitions, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Retail
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El Tiempo 1308 Cantina, 1308 Montrose Blvd., North Montrose, Houston

El Tiempo 1308 Cantina, 1308 Montrose Blvd., North Montrose, HoustonIf future residents of the new 8-story apartment building that’s being planned to go up in place of the El Tiempo 1308 Cantina and quite a few of its neighboring buildings don’t want to wait around for management to fix their leaky faucets, they won’t have far to go to find spare washers or other plumbing parts. Neighboring fix-it-yourself plumbing supply store U-Plumb-It will likely still be around to sell them parts and hand out advice — because it won’t be included in the redevelopment. But everything north of it, on the block bounded by Marconi St., West Clay St., and Montrose Blvd. will. Developer Sunrise Luxury Living is planning to build 5 stories of apartments — 220 units in all — over 3 levels of parking, a source tells Swamplot. Plans currently include some sort of retail component on the bottom floor, facing Montrose Blvd.

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More Redevelopment Details
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Apartments
10/29/14 10:15am

El Tiempo Says Multi-Story Apartments Will Replace Montrose’s 1308 Cantina Early Next Year

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Buying and Selling, North Montrose, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Restaurants
22 Comments

Rear Entrance, El Tiempo 1308 Cantina, 1308 Montrose Blvd., North Montrose, Houston

El Tiempo’s Roland Laurenzo reports that the land under his family’s El Tiempo 1308 Cantina on Montrose Blvd. is being sold by the owner for a “multi-story apartment project development.” The restaurant, which leases the space, is looking for another Montrose spot where it can relocate after it closes early next year. Greg Morago’s report in the Chronicle doesn’t provide any additional detail about the proposed apartments, but the 1308 Cantina, bounded by West Clay St., occupies the northern third of a long block capped on the southern end by the for-sale and shuttering Gibbs Boats at West Gray St. Between those 2 properties are a tire shop and the U-Plumb-It supply store. The 1308 Cantina took over from a restaurant called Sabor, a mid-aughts upscale replacement for La Jalisciense at the same 1308 Montrose Blvd. spot.

Update, 4:30 pm:  Here are some more details on the apartment development replacing the 1308 Cantina and many of its neighbors.

Photo of El Tiempo 1308 Cantina from Marconi St. parking lot: Bill Coatney [license]

Getting Ready To Move
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Buying and Selling
10/21/14 10:30am

Old Daily Review Cafe Spot, North Montrose Might Soon Be Up a Creek

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North Montrose, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants
7 Comments

OLD DAILY REVIEW CAFE SPOT, NORTH MONTROSE MIGHT SOON BE UP A CREEK Daily Review Cafe, 2412 W. Lamar St., North Montrose, HoustonBack in March, the Daily Review Café on W. Lamar St. off Dunlavy closed temporarily with a notice about “water issues”; shortly afterward the owners announced the restaurant and its extensive patio wouldn’t reopen. A “for lease” sign has been up at the space for several months, but it now appears the property has attracted a buyer. Eater Houston’s new sleuth-in-residence Jakeisha Wilmore has gathered clues that point to the participation of Gary Mosley’s Creek Group, the company behind the Onion Creek Coffee House, Dry Creek Cafe, and the Cedar Creek and Canyon Creek Bars and Grills. Only this time, the serial restaurateur appears to be flying under a different name: “A limited liability company formed under Piggy’s Tavern was filed by Mosley’s restaurant group in August,” Wilmore writes. “The group also filed for a mixed beverage permit and mixed beverage late night permit from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). The address listed to conduct business is 3412 West Lamar,” the Daily Review spot. [Eater Houston] Photo: Daily Review Café

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Condos
09/29/14 4:45pm

A Lifeboat for the Royalton’s Corroding Crown?

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Construction Problems, Highrises, Lawsuits, North Montrose, Quicklink
18 Comments

A LIFEBOAT FOR THE ROYALTON’S CORRODING CROWN? Top of Royalton at River Oaks Condominiums, 3333 Allen Pkwy., HoustonJudging from court filings, there appears to have been some sort of resolution to the lawsuit filed more than 2 years ago by the condominium association of the 253-unit Royalton at River Oaks highrise over the design of the steel grid at the top of the building at 3333 Allen Pkwy. The lawsuit claimed the structure was corroding and was designed in such away that made maintaining it or recoating it impossible — and sought damages from the building’s contractor, architect, and other parties. The condo association dropped its claims against many of those parties late last month. And a reader wonders if the attachment seen hanging below the structure in the recent photo at left, which “almost looks like a hot tub,” is part of some newly devised cleaning solution. [Prime Property] Photo: Swamplot inbox

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Buildings for Sale
09/24/14 4:45pm

Gibbs Boats on West Gray and Montrose Is Selling Everything Now

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Houston History, Land for Sale, North Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail
39 Comments

Gibbs Boats, 1110 West Gray St. at Montrose Blvd., North Montrose, Houston

How cool is it that a boat store with metal siding and a groovy sixties-era sign stood at the corner of West Gray and Montrose Blvd. for 56 years? Well, pieces of the iconic Gibbs Boats sign floated away after the last hurricane; if the property sells, the store won’t be around much longer either.

The giant for-sale sign that went up on the storefront windows yesterday has drawn a bit more attention from potential buyers than the online listing for the 24,925-sq.-ft. L-shaped property, which has been posted for about a month now. The listed asking price is $150 per sq. ft. of land.

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Setting Sail
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Bayous and Waterways
09/23/14 1:00pm

A Quick Overhead Survey of Buffalo Bayou Park

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North Montrose, Parks
14 Comments

How long has it been since you’ve run along, rowed along, or flown over Buffalo Bayou? Guy-out-with-his-Phantom-quadcopter Marco Luzuriaga filmed this scene earlier this month above a short section of the city’s most prominent drainage canal beginning near the Rosemont Bridge, then turning around and heading a ways toward Downtown. He gives up on the waterway and substitutes a bit of downtown-tangling freeway spaghetti near the end, but if you look into the distance around the 1:30 mark, you can catch a quick progress report on reconstruction of Buffalo Bayou Park.

Video: Marco Luzuriaga, via Brittanie Shey

 

Tour by Drone
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Condos
09/09/14 1:00pm

The New Midrise Condo Building on D’Amico St. off Dunlavy Should Look Something Like This

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North Montrose, Proposed Developments
10 Comments

Rendering of Riva at the Park, 3331 D'Amico St., North Montrose, Houston

Here’s a rendering of the 7-story (2 of them parking) condo building Sims Luxury Builders is planning for the spot at 3331 D’Amico St. — just east of Dunlavy St. and south of Allen Pkwy. currently occupied by a dentist’s office and bridal shop structure where a sign went up late last month. Dubbed Riva at the Park, the building will contain 22 units (marked down from 24), on 3 floors of 4 units each and 2 floors of 5. A marketing rep tells Swamplot the building’s developers are aiming to have “larger units than Highland Tower or the Royalton,” but “superior finish allowances and very low maintenance fees but not as industrial as the loft buildings.” They condos are expected to start in the high $700s. The building will sit on the northern edge of the former Rincon Apartments, now called the Villas at River Oaks.

Rendering: Sims Luxury Builders

Riva at the Park
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